Newsstand: September 5, 2013

Get out your balaclava 'cause the temperature's dropped. And in the news: The councillor whose ward saw the tragic death of a Grade 10 student by a large truck is proposing banning big trucks from school zones; Billy Bishop airport actually sees a majority of leisure, rather than business, travellers; Constable Tony Vella is considering putting his name forward to be appointed Doug Holyday's replacement, and it's Sam the Record Man('s son) vs. Ryerson University.

Councillor Anthony Perruzza (Ward 8 York West) announced he will put forward a motion to ban large trucks from school zones during high-volume times (ie: when students are arriving in the morning and leaving in the afternoon). Peruzza represents the ward where Grade 10 student Violet Liang was killed by a large truck while en route to her first day of class at C.W. Jeffreys Collegiate Institute Tuesday morning. She is, apparently, the second Toronto student to be killed by a large truck in only six months.

Although when flying out of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport mid-day it can feel like everyone around you is clad in a power suit and on their way to an ultra-important business meeting (or maybe that’s just me), a new survey from the Toronto Port Authority and conducted by Ipsos Reid this summer revealed that a whopping 59 per cent of trips out of the island airport are actually just for leisure. And, apparently, said leisure travellers (or dare we say jet-setters?) are exactly who Porter has in mind as it puts forward a controversial bid to expand its runway and introduce larger jet planes into the fold.

Constable Tony Vella, well-known in the city for his years spent working as the Toronto Police spokesman, is considering putting his name forward in the run to be appointed as the replacement city councillor in Ward 3—a seat left vacant last month when former councillor Doug Holyday (Ward 3 Etobicoke Centre) moved on to provincial politics.

The family of the late Sam Sniderman, owner of the iconic “Sam the Record Man,” and Ryerson University are embroiled in a dispute over the highly sensitive issue of whether to reinstall the defunct record store’s legendary neon sign on another building. When the store went out of business in 2008, Sniderman’s family sold it to Ryerson with the understanding that the university would preserve the sign and put it on a new structure. But, according to Ryerson president Sheldon Levy in a statement made yesterday, Sniderman had never insisted that the sign be preserved. Last week, a proposal was made to the City to let Ryerson compromise, by allowing it to instead embed replica signs in the sidewalk on Yonge Street and hang a commemorative plaque outlining the store’s history; Sam’s son Bobby is outraged that his family was not consulted before the plan was proposed, and is extremely upset at the prospect of the sign not being properly honoured. The issue will be debated by Toronto and East York Community Council on Sept 10 before going to city council on October 8.